Wedding bells for mass murderer Manson
CORCORAN, California: Mass murderer Charles Manson has a licence to marry a 26-year-old woman who visits him in prison.
The marriage licence was issued on November 7 for the 80-year-old Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, who left her Midwestern home nine years ago and moved to Corcoran, California – the site of the prison – to be near Manson.
She maintains several websites advocating Manson’s innocence.
The licence does not specify a wedding date and indicates the couple have 90 days to get married or they will have to reapply.
Burton, who goes by the name “Star”, said she and Manson would be married next month.
“Y’all can know that it’s true,” she said. “It’s going to happen.
“I love him. I’m with him. There’s all kinds of things.”
Burton gave an interview a year ago to Rolling Stone magazine in which she said she and Manson planned to marry. But Manson, who became notorious in 1969 as the leader of a roving “family” of young killers, was less certain about tying the knot.
“That’s a bunch of garbage,” Manson said in an interview in December last year. “That’s trash. We’re playing that for public consumption.”
Asked on Monday about those comments, Burton said: “None of that’s true,” adding that they were waiting for the prison to complete their paperwork.
California Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton confirmed the licence had been transmitted to the prison.
Thornton said each California prison designated an employee to be a marriage co-ordinator who processes paperwork for an inmate’s request to be wed.
In most cases, she said, the department of corrections approved of such weddings as “a tool of family reunification and social development”. But Manson is a unique case. Thornton said that in February, Manson had three violations for possession of a weapon, threatening staff and refusal to provide a urine sample.
Burton said the prison held marriages on the first Saturday of each month. She expects to be married in an inmate visiting room.
Thornton confirmed that Manson could have a wedding at the prison and invite an officiate from outside the prison to perform the ceremony.
He and his prospective spouse would be allowed to invite 10 guests who were not inmates. However, as a life prisoner with no parole date, he is not entitled to family visits, a euphemism for conjugal visits.
Why marry Manson under those conditions? Burton said it would allow her to get information not available to non-relatives.
“There’s certain things next of kin can do,” she said.
She said she believed Manson was innocent and would get a new trial.
Manson has been incarcerated since 1969 in the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders. He was a habitual criminal before that and spent most of his life in prison.
He and two woman followers, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel, remain imprisoned.
Another follower, Susan Atkins, died of cancer while in jail.
They were convicted in the gruesome killings of actress Sharon Tate and four others at her estate on August 9, 1969, and grocers Leno and Rosemary LaBianca who were killed the following night.
Manson is not eligible for parole until 2027. – Sapa-AP